FBI offers $100,000 reward for information on"Cryptoqueen" Ruja Ignatova, adds her to Ten Most Wanted Fugitives listThe FBI announced Thursday that it has added Ruja Ignatova — also known as"Cryptoqueen" — to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. Ignatova is of creating a fake Bulgarian-based cryptocurrency company and defrauding investors out of nearly $4 billion.
"There are so many victims all over the world who were financially devastated by this," Investigating Special Agent Ronald ShimkoAccording to the FBI, Ignatova and her partner created a cryptocurrency company called OneCoin in 2014, which they claimed would be a"bitcoin killer." Investigators said Ignatova promoted the company through a"multi-level marketing strategy" that encouraged initial investors to sell packages of OneCoin to friends and family.
Investigators believe that Ignatova may have been tipped off that she was under investigation by U.S authorities. She was charged on October 12, 2017, and traveled from Sofia, Bulgaria, to Athens, Greece, on October 25 — but she hasn't been seen since.